Watch: New Japan Pro Wrestling Stopped Live On-Air Due to 7.2 Magnitude Earthquake

An earthquake occurred during a New Japan Pro Wrestling show, bringing a halt to a six-man [...]

By John Newby

An earthquake occurred during a New Japan Pro Wrestling show, bringing a halt to a six-man tag-team match. KENTA, Jay White, and Yujiro Takahashi were facing off with Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kota Ibushi when the 7.2 magnitude earthquake caused the interruption. The bout came to a halt for roughly 30 minutes.

Videos surfaced on YouTube and Twitter that showed the ring the moment the earthquake occurred. The camera began shaking before pointing toward the ceiling as one wrestler turned and looked around. NJPW took a break to confirm that there were no safety issues before the match restarted. The wrestlers took the opportunity to pose for photos and entertain the fans that were in attendance.

"Am earthquake interrupting the NJPW show is just about the damnedest thing I've ever seen," tweeted David Bixenspan of Dark Side of the Ring. "I have immense respect for [Kevin Kelly], [Chris Charlton], and [Gino Gambino] as broadcasters right now. They filled the time during that earthquake-induced hiatus like it was nothing."

When the earthquake originally took place, the fans expressed concern for the wrestlers and the people in attendance. Once the match safely resumed, they began expressing relief and praising the engineers that designed the building. Although a few did take the opportunity to tweet out some jokes about missed opportunities.

"As crazy as this stuff gets, not one of them grabbed one of the ropes and started shaking it up and down and acting like they're causing the earthquake," one wrestling fan tweeted on Saturday. Another tweeted out a video of Godzilla.

According to CNN, the earthquake had a depth of 34 miles. The authorities issued a tsunami warning on Saturday, but it was later downgraded to a "tsunami forecast" of slight changes in sea level. The US Tsunami Warning System said that there was no warning, advisory, watch, or threat of tsunami associated with the earthquake in Japan.

Additionally, firefighters in the Miyagi jurisdiction, where Ishinomaki is located, reported no damage from the earthquake. The Japan Times reported that there were no "abnormalities" at the eastern and northeastern nuclear reactors. Two homes lost power in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture while rail lines temporarily suspended service. Residents of Tokyo also felt the tremor, where it registered up to a 3 on the Japanese scale.

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